On June 4 I again visited Luna Float Spa, in Colorado Springs. This was my second visit. See this link for my first visit. On this visit, I used the larger pod…I think they called it “The Colorado”? In any event, it was larger than the first one I was in and I like have more open space in there to float around in, without worrying about hitting the sides….though I did notice that it seemed to take a while for me to stop “knocking around” inside. I don’t get claustrophobic, so that was never an issue. Actually, I find them both kinda cozy to be in. This pod also didn’t have the multi-colored lights. I like the blues and purples of the other lights for presentation…but once I’m in there, I turn all lights off, so it really doesn’t matter when the rubber hits the road.

Here are the sensations I had this time around:

Saw a tight “bundle” of vertical “pipes,” like either from an organ…or on a ship, then, immediately following that…

Saw a man standing and hugging an armload of newspapers! Like he held about a foot of them against his front, newspapers opened vertically*

Saw image of a bright blue “summer” sky above deciduous tree

Saw many flashes of imagery that I no longer remember, though some I do recall were about:

Different and multiple images of people

A partial conversation or two (I actually heard these partial conversations!)**

Bright lighting…like I thought the pod’s or the room’s lights had come on…but when I opened my eyes—nope, pitch dark

Dull yellows and some blue, only an instance or two of blue this time and one stark, bright, well-defined red

Jerking body, arms

Tingly and expansive-feeling in hands and body (typical mediation feeling)

My consciousness feeling expansive (typical mediation feeling)

Also near the end I felt like my thumb and index fingers of my right hand were holding a knob of some kind! Very odd! This felt so freaking real…I was moving my fingers…and even moving my fingers, it really honest-to-God felt like I was hold some kind of knob that was about 2 inches in length and about an inch wide. Of course, there was “nothing” there….

*This was probably the most intense imagery I had the entire time! This guy was as clear as day to me, standing tall, and “hugging” or holding-fast to a large mass of opened newspapers (draped lengthwise against him)! His garb was non-descript, but it happened so fast that I didn’t really get into what he was wearing—I was more curious about the danged newspapers! Who was this guy, I asked myself? Is he another me in another time? I never did get any answers…still don’t have any….

**There were at least two instances of flashes of actual conversations going on, though I couldn’t exactly make out the words…or if I had made out a word or two they were lost on me because of the sheer weirdness of hearing actual conversations going on in my head that I wasn’t actively partaking in!

When I was done, it was so danged hard getting out! My physical relaxation was so

The Luna Dreamwave Pod. (Image by F. P. Dorchak, June 4, 2016)

incredibly “complete and thorough”…my entire body felt like concrete floating in water! Man, it took me a while getting up and out of there! I was so out of it, I actually had to pause on bent knees while still inside the pod.

But the image of the “newspaper” man! It was quite sharp, clear, and defined! I kept thinking who is this guy? And the more I thought about the other images, I wondered if maybe they’re images from other “me’s” that I just seemed to sync up with. You know…when you find yourself daydreaming or drifting off…and you catch yourself and snap out of it—but for a moment you’re kinda “meditating” or “elsewhere”? I wonder…if maybe in this sessions I had made contact across other times and me’s during these hypnogogic/daydreaming moments. But, whatever it was, it was very weird, very fascinating, and I loved it!

Freezing

Then, after getting out and talking with the owners for spell, they told me about this new “thing” downstairs in their building that I’d noticed on the way up. It’s called Colorado Cryospa. It cites these benefits. The long and the short of it is that you’re stripped down (obviously in private!) and exposed to 2-3 minutes of up to -300 degrees of dry cold.

Yup. You read that right.

It’s like being “packaged” in dry ice! They give you booties, gloves and some shorts (I’m sure women get a top) and you stand in this vertical “tube” with a thermometer at head height and liquid nitrogen vaporizing all around you. You can see how cold you’re going. Then they lower the temperature and you can see the temps plummet! You only really need to go to about -175 or so, they say, to reap the…um, benefits…of cryotherapy, but I went to -250 degrees.

It was cool, pardon the pun!

You see all this “fog” forming around you just like dry ice! I was chuckling and smiling during all this! I mean, it was so danged weird! Then they have you turn every so often so the whole body is uniformly frozen. I felt like a piece of meat-on-a-stick being flash-frozen! And, surprising, it really wasn’t that bad! You’d expect frost bite, skin going white-then-blue-then black…remembering all you’ve been told about not touching dry ice (and I did—once…)…all you’ve ever been told about extreme temperatures and the human body and its tender flesh. But it doesn’t affect you in quite the same way.

It’s a dry cold.

(it’s a dry heat…)

It’s not actually touching you.

I never actually bean to shiver—and then, only a very little!—until we hit the -250 degrees. First my legs began the slight, sporadic shiver, then my whole body began to join in…but it’s nothing like you imagine. And the staff was right there with me. We were actually talking and joking around, because your head and shoulders are exposed above this tube. It just wasn’t that cold—as cold as I expected -250 would feel like—because it wasn’t moist cold. It’s exactly like that “it’s a dry heat!” joke. Think sauna but in the opposite direction!

The theory behind this is that when you go down to these extreme temps, your body goes into a “fight or flight” mode—I called it “the death mode”; I said just call it what it is!—and begins to shunt blood flow from the extremities to the organs, like when you really would be freezing to death. But since you’re only “there” for such a short time, and you come back to room temps quickly (you can feel the temp difference immediately, once it stops), your body gets (according to them) all these endorphins and “overcompensates” with healing stuff. It was originally developed for Rheumatoid Arthritis, but claims to have benefits for other issues. For depression, they say: “People who suffer from anxiety and depression receive hormonal benefits.” But, of course, you have to have multiple sessions, and close together. I only did a single, free session, because this outfit is new and had a thing going on with Luna Float Spa.

Apparently cryotherapy has been used in Japan for years. Of course. But, I’ve never heard of this kind of therapy before…or if I have, I’d long forgotten about it. It was cool, again, pardon the pun. But, it really just doesn’t interest me in doing, though it is actually kinda interesting in and of itself. The staff asks you all these health questions, have you review said questions and sign a waiver, then they take your blood pressure before you go in to make sure you’re okay to enter. So, be honest about any physical conditions.

And as I was actually going through it all, I couldn’t get this silly, fascinated grin off my face!

It’s just so…weird!

Seriously? I’m doing what to myself?

Oh, my wife is gonna really love this when I tell her….

But…I can’t say that I honestly felt any kind of “supercharged” afterwards…but I didn’t feel wiped throughout the day (Saturday, which turned out to be a long and busy day).

Now, I did on Sunday…I was extremely wiped and sluggish when I got up, and it took me quite a while to get my ass in gear. I felt drained. Sluggish. We had a thing later in the day-through-the-evening, and it took me the better part of that Sunday to get going…but I just didn’t feel like I was “shot full of endorphins,” like Morgan, one of the Luna Float Spa’s owner’s, said he felt like after he’d done this.

So…would I do cryotherapy again?

No. Doesn’t interest me right now, and it’s one more thing to pay for, though the rates seem reasonable. But it might in the future. See the “Local news link” link below.

Floating again?

Definitely! I love the experience!

But, go ahead, give them both a try, if you’re physically up the cryotherapy! Both are recommend for the sheer experiences of them!

The following is the second part to a faux interview with me by one of the characters in my new novel, Voice. It delves into my metaphysical leanings and was removed from the main faux interview of me on my other blog, which is more about writing.

Voice: In Voice you wax philosophical. How did you get into all this New Age/metaphysical philosophy?

F. P.: New Age. My thoughts on the philosophy are similar to my thoughts on the writing of its fiction. It’s a term I’ve come to not like—and only because of all the negative connotation associated with it—otherwise, I have nothing against the term nor the “movement.” “New Age” has been around a long time. The concepts have been so associated with floozy philosophies and daisy power that I think it’s hurt the label. And since humans like to label things, I think we might need a new label—or a reeducation. But I like to think that my work can help change perceptions. Get people to be [more] introspective. Expand their awareness by considering other possibilities for why things might be. Give consideration to what might be happening in the background of our lives. Get them to not-so-easily dismiss the little “weird occurrences” that happen to our lives, for they are many! I’m not setting myself up as some guru or saying I know everything…I’m just trying to show other possibilities about why things might be.

I got into my Weltanschauung (world view), kind of interestingly. As I mentioned, I’ve always been interested in the strange and weird…the paranormal. As a youngster I had gotten these weird mailers for “occult” and supernatural books and I’d send away for them. Then one day—I had to be around 14 or so—I got a particular flyer for a book called Seth Speaks, by Jane Roberts. It totally blew my mind! It kicked ass with respect to human thought and why we were all here, and anything else you wanted to ask. It—and all of Jane’s successive books that I bought—was simply and utterly amazing. If any of this was true, man, the world changes we could effect! It was staggering! The information came from Jane Roberts, as she channeled an “energy personality essence” who called itself “Seth.” All major religious change started from some kind of inspiration, and I maintain that “channeling”—while I am highly, highly suspect of anyone who outwardly claims this, highly, highly suspicious—is no different than anyone else’s inspiration: John the Baptist or John Smith, you pick the “john,” the leader. And I’m not saying just because you’re inspired you’re right. I’m just talking pure mechanics, here. Followers and writers just call it “inspiration”—or madness. Who’s to say that inspiration isn’t channeling? That our ideas, though coming from us, our personality vessels, might not also come from something or someone deeper within? Not just God, but other “personalities” within us…nonphysical energies behind and a part of who we are? Might they not come from “world views” like has been written about in The World View of Paul Cézanne, and The Afterdeath Journal of an American Philosopher? And if this was true (which I feel it is)…isn’t it exactly how it might work? Just think outside the box for a second. Now, whether or not you should hang your hat on any of this inspiration is another story…but, again, I’m just talking about the involved mechanics…not the content of the inspiration. Inspiration can be misinterpreted. But, then again, all interpretation is highly individual…and is interpreted by individuals as it will and must be. But that still doesn’t make it “right” for others.

So I read this Seth material and was stunned by every word of it. Amazed. Even downright scared at times. I remember one day, as a kid, going to my mother and talking to her about this. I told her how scary some of it sounded, and asked her how could it be real? I don’t recall much of the conversation, but I do remember my mom being very supportive and understanding, and somehow putting me to ease. Must be a mother thing.

Voice: It is.

F. P.: So, as I grew up, I continued reading absolutely any book Jane and Seth (Jane’s husband, Rob Butts, transcribed all these books as Jane related them aloud) put out. I also studied religion—I was actually raised Roman Catholic—and philosophy. I did this both on my own and while studying in college. I was actually one class short of a philosophy minor. I decided to see if these concepts really worked. See how much of life’s questions they could answer—and I don’t mean like those simple “it’s the Devil’s work” wave-of-the-hand snippets. I needed more…and what “more” was I wouldn’t know until confronted with it. Well, what I found—and I’d actually gotten back into the traditional religious side of things for a spell—was that whether I was “religious” or wasn’t I would get what I wanted…so how could one faction be wrong and the other right? Well, these mind-bending philosophies from Jane’s books explained everything to me—or a helluva lot more than anything else out there I’d ever read before or since—including traditional eastern philosophy. Seth’s work is like a Venn Diagram: I can place absolutely every other philosophical thought or concept or issue into the answers and explanations I got from Seth/Jane’s books, but not the other way around. I used my life experience to prove these concepts and didn’t just blindly accept what I had read. I simply found that “Seth/Jane’s concepts” worked in everyday life. Whether or not she channeled the information or “made it up”—it didn’t matter to me, it all worked, and made sense to me, even if they didn’t appear to work.

Voice: Explain.

F. P.: Most of the concepts are based on us controlling and creating our own lives—not everything that is, but our physical lives. That we are the energy behind the rocks and trees and pollution, you name it. God, or as I prefer All That Is, is the energy behind us. Within us. Allowing us our lives and value fulfillment. Giving us unconditional love and support. In a nutshell. There’s a little more to it, but that’s why there’re so many books on the subject. So, when things don’t work, the philosophy explains why it doesn’t work, and there could be any of a number of reasons. For example: say you have a fear of intimacy—and most of our seeming failures, by the way, seem to be related to some kind of fear—you seem to get close to a person, but always end up breaking up…or never finding that one “perfect” person. Well, the quick and dirty explanation could be that you—not the world, not the people you’re dating and meeting—but you are the one pushing people away. You are bringing into your life situations that consciously or unconsciously reinforce your system of beliefs that (maybe) you are unworthy. Your fears are keeping you from finding who you want…not that there’s no one out there for you. The people that are coming into your life are there for their reasons as well, but this doesn’t negate that you brought your version of theminto your life to begin with. You attracted them. So, the theory goes, by changing your beliefs, which is not always an easy thing to do (but should be), I’m saying you’ll change your life. We all interact with each other for our own physical and nonphysical reasons, but our own circles of influence are brought on by us…individually and en masse…not by any “external” forces or causes. We bring everything into our own lives, good and bad. Any further explanation here, gets book length, and that’s why there are so many books! The books get very detailed.

In any event, I try to incorporate aspects of all this philosophy into all I write. Sometimes it’s more obvious than others. Sometimes it’s not. Sometimes it’s sexy, as with Voice.

Voice: Well, thank you for some insight to your philosophy and how it ties into your work!